With one week left...

This is before the race...bright-eyed, excited, and pre...well, just read how below to see how it all went.

I had a goal to run a half marathon within a year of having Mia, and with one week left, I finally did it! I ran my first half marathon on Saturday, February 28, 2009 in Ft. Worth, Texas. I met my sister Heather and her fiance Shaman to do it with them. It was freezing cold, and very windy!!! It was one of those chill to the bones day...but I must be a glutton for punishment because I actually had a lot of fun! It must have been 35 degrees that morning with 25 mph wind gusts. The first five miles were great-I did them in 50 minutes, which might be slow for some runners, but it was great time for me. Then the hills started. Miles 6-9 were one hill after another, and that was really tough on my right ankle. I wear an ankle brace, and those hills really did a number on my ankle and my time. When I hit mile 9, I wanted to just plow through because I only had 4 more to go, but then the cobblestone brick pavers started. Cracked, old cobblestone brick pavers. My ankle just couldn't take it. From mile 9-10.5 it was really difficult to run on an uneven surface, so between slowing down, stopping to readjust my shoes, to finally taking my ankle brace off, I really slowed down. The last two miles were okay (with one kick in the pants hill right about 1/2 mile before the finish line), and my official finish time was 2:44:35. My original goal was under 2 1/2 hrs., so I guess 14 extra minutes isn't too bad, but I was really kind of bummed when the last half didn't go my way. I will definitely do another half marathon. It was great to train for-hard at times, but the first time I ran 4 miles, then 6 miles, then 8 miles, then 10 miles in training, I felt so proud and amazed that I could do this! ANYONE can run if I can run! It was awesome. I am so glad Mia and Dave were there to cheer me on this silly little goal of mine. So get out and find yourself some windy freezing weather, brick cobblestone, hilly terrain and RUN!!


The finishers! Here we are with our cute little finisher COWTOWN Marathon medals
p.s. Mia was exhausted after the race...it's tough being a diva in a suade pink furry coat all morning.